If left to fully mature as is the norm in the Middle East the pistachio fruit
will develop a reddish skin covering the nut, which will cause the shell to
have a mottled red appearance, thought not very attractive for export and so
those would be dyed fully red for cosmetic purposes. The California crop is
harvested before the red skin forms, therefore are much cleaner in apparance
but at the price of a somewhat less intensely flavored nut.
Go:
http://www.zenobianut.com
Encyclopędia Britannica
Pistachio (Pistacia vera)
genus of flowering plants, of the cashew family (Anacardiaceae), comprising
nine species of aromatic trees and shrubs native to Eurasia, with one species
in southwestern North America and another in the Canary Islands. The Chinese
pistachio (P. chinensis) is a tall ornamental tree with scarlet fruits and
colourful autumn foliage. The mastic tree (P. lentiscus) and turpentine tree,
or terebinth (P. terebinthus), produce sweet-smelling gums used in medicine.
Mastic also is used in liqueurs and varnishes. Commercial pistachio nuts are
seeds from the fruit of P. vera. The nuts are extensively used as food and for
yellowish-green colouring in confections.
Grown in dry lands in warm or temperate climates, the tree is believed
indigenous to Iran; it is widely cultivated from Afghanistan to the
Mediterranean region and to a limited extent in California. The tree has
wide-spreading branches but rarely exceeds 9 metres (30 feet) in height. Each
leaf has one to five pairs of thick, wide, leathery, pinnate leaflets; its
small fruits are borne in clusters. The trees are usually dioecious (bearing
either male or female flowers) and are pollinated largely by wind.
The white fruits are 1.5 to 2 centimetres (0.6 to 0.8 inch) long and tend to
split at one side without discharging the nut, a greenish kernel enclosed in a
thin, tightly adhering, *reddish skin*. The single, solid kernels have a
pleasing mild resinous flavour. To ensure pollination and good yield, male
trees are interplanted with female in a ratio of 1:5 or 1:6.
Encyclopędia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=61714
[Accessed March 23, 2004].
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Sheldon
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"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."